Pistole and Valerie E. Caproni were the two FBI officials who approved a memo laying out the FBI’s policy on the limits to the interrogation of captives taken during the United States’ war on terror. The memo was from the FBI’s General Counsel, to all offices, explaining that FBI officials were not allowed to engage in coercive interrogations; FBI officials were not allowed to sit in on coercive interrogations conducted by third parties; FBI officials were required to immediately report any instances of suspected coercive interrogation up the FBI chain of command.